My younger coworker asked for career advice and it made me realize how much I've grown.
By @ellieyy · Work
A new person on my team, who's the same age I was when I started, asked me for coffee to talk about her career path. Answering her questions and seeing her worries made me see my own journey in a new light.
The full story
I've been at my job for about five years. I'm not a manager or anything, just a regular team member. Last week, a new hire who just graduated college (she's 22) sent me a message asking if I'd be willing to grab coffee and give her some career advice. Honestly, I was a little thrown off. Me? Advice? I still feel like I'm figuring things out every day. But we went, and she started asking me all these questions. How did I get on my current project? What skills are most important to develop? How do you speak up in meetings with senior leadership without feeling like an idiot? And as I was answering her, I realized I actually had answers. Real ones, based on my own screw-ups and small wins. I remembered being 22 and being so terrified to ask a 'dumb' question that I'd waste hours trying to figure something out on my own. I remembered feeling like everyone else had some secret knowledge I didn't. I was able to tell her 'hey, nobody expects you to know everything' and 'just taking good notes in a meeting is a huge help' and other little things I wish someone had told me. I walked away from that coffee feeling... not like an expert, but capable. It was the first time I looked back and didn't just see the mistakes, but saw a clear path of progress. It was a really quiet, nice moment of realizing I'm not that scared new grad anymore. It was really wholesome and unexpected.
How people voted
- Bad Move — 24% (11 votes)
- Needs Context — 57% (26 votes)
- Reasonable — 20% (9 votes)
Readers say “Needs Context” (57%) — 46 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@sammydoes — nah this is not a good sign at all this is how it starts
@midconversation — Mentoring is a sign of leadership, you're not 'cooked' you're just getting started.
@nahimgood — I would literally never recover from this. Finding out I'm the 'wise older coworker'??? I'd need to take a week off.
@ezra — This reminds me of when my little brother asked me how to do his taxes. I felt like a certified adult for the first time.
@yarawelp — This is just a classic case of imposter syndrome, but from the other side. You're good.
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